Podcast appearances and mentions of nathalie molina ni

Hoy te traigo una entrevista sumamente especial con una de las fundadoras de la línea para el cabello rizado Ocoa Beauty Cory Varona. Ella nos estará contando como emprendieron ella y su hermana en el mundo del cuidado del cabello, nos va a estar compartiendo los obstáculos que han tenido y no quiero seguir diciéndote más porque quiero que la escuches  

Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages I am an accidental entrepreneur, and as exhilarating as it's been, it's also been really difficult at times. Now, entrepreneurship has been hard for me as a white man and also for one of our previous guests, Bobby Herrera, as a Latino man. However, the statistics are endless when it comes to the struggles of being a woman entrepreneur.  I am delighted to speak to Nathalie Molina Niño, a woman with many titles, some of which include CEO of O³, an investor, an entrepreneur, and the author of Leapfrog: The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs. Get‌ ‌book‌ ‌links‌ ‌and‌ ‌resources‌ ‌at‌ https://www.mbs.works/2-pages-podcast/  Nathalie reads two pages from her brilliant book, ‘Leapfrog.' [reading begins at 7:39]   Hear us discuss:  “If you're exceptional at anything, you're probably going to have to become an entrepreneur at it.” [4:28] | “Being an entrepreneur is more of a life skill than a career path … I never saw it as optional.” [4:40] | How to find courage: “Ambition doesn't have to be ego-centric.” [13:15]

Pub Date is a podcast dedicated to the love of books, and the authors who bring them into the world! In today's episode, Copper CEO & founder, Allison Trowbridge, sits down with the Managing Director of Known Holdings, builder-capitalist and author, Nathalie Molina Niño as they discuss her book ‘Leapfrog: The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs'Listen in to learn about Nathalie's amazing journey to becoming an entrepreneur as a woman born to immigrants.  After much research, Nathalie realized that women were starting business' at twice the rate of men in the United States and most of those were started by women of color.  It was at this point that Nathalie decided to write Leapfrog to reach those who felt underserved in business, books, studies and scenarios. Today's episode is for you if you find yourself an outlier wondering how to “Leapfrog” traditional norms to succeed as an entrepreneur!You can get your copy of Nathalie's new book here, and you can follow Nathalie on social media at @nathaliemolinanino. Learn more about Copper Books by clicking here, and follow @copper.books and your host @alliebridge on Instagram!

We continue our Best of 2021 episodes with an  episode from the Our Body Politic podcast, hosted by Farai Chideya.Farai Chideya and her guests dissect political news across the country, from the Senate races in Georgia to the violence in our nation's capital. And we welcome new contributor and legal analyst Tiffany Jeffers. Impact investor Nathalie Molina Niño takes on the exclusion of women of color in finance. Business reporter Ruth Umoh takes stock of corporations' promises to invest in racial equity. Former journalist Carla Murphy tells Farai about her mission to understand why other journalists of color leave newsrooms. Plus, the leaders of the Guild of Future Architects on what work will look like decades from now.Additional InformationOur Body Politic PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group

I almost can't believe it, but we have our very first non-AAPI voice on the podcast today. And I can't imagine anyone else to debut than the extraordinary Nathalie Molina Niño.You could probably easily name things Nathalie isn't involved in rather than the opposite, because she has integrated herself into almost every sector you could possibly imagine when it comes to amplifying BIPOC voices.From learning storytelling through theater, working as a global tech entrepreneur, becoming a published author and educator, and now investing to open opportunities for BIPOC folks to achieve positions of ownership.As part of her work as a champion of women, communities of color and the planet, she also co-founded the trade organization for Builder Capitalism, a long-view, alternative asset class to Venture Capital.I encourage you to listen to this podcast while you're not doing anything too mentally demanding — Nathalie drops some seriously jaw-dropping stats and amazing nuggets of wisdom during this episode that I know you'll feel inspired by. So, sit back and enjoy our conversation!WANT TO KNOW THE REAL STORY?If you want in on the story behind the story, join us over on our private Facebook group! Over there, you can dive deeper into this topic with our community and ask whatever (literally) you want to know more about. Or, buy our team an ice cream by making a donation here. Thank you for your support!ARE YOU ENJOYING THE PODCAST?If so, I'd love your review on Apple Podcasts! It helps our message get in front of more people. And the best part? It only takes a minute:Step 1: Go to https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1554330617Step 2: Click “View on Apple Podcasts”Step 3: Click “Ratings and Reviews”Step 4: Click to rate and leave a short review!Bonus step: Subscribe if you're not already to get notified when an episode drops every Tuesday!A huge thank you for listening to the show and sharing it with your tribe. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

“At the root of all these issues, in my view… it's really just a lack of capital.”-Nathalie Molina NiñoWomen start the majority of small businesses in the United States. But they don't have the easiest time receiving funding from investors.Nathalie Molina Niño is a building capital investor and former tech entrepreneur who wants to bridge that gap!“There truly are a lot of other ways that you can go when it comes to financing your company. VC is one, and it's a viable one, but it's a niche and it's inappropriate for most companies,” Nathalie says. “It's a difficult way to finance a company because you're ultimately giving away control of your company, and you're giving away control to a group of people who have short-term goals.”In this conversation, we discuss the gender bias in venture capital, the alternative funding sources available, and the Road to Seven Capital Access Program, which helps microbusinesses access the funds they need to grow!In‌ ‌this‌ ‌episode of the Road to Seven podcast,‌ ‌you'll discover:‌Why you should consider looking beyond VC when seeking investorsHow to be prepared when you're ready to seek fundingHow you can benefit from outside-the-box thinking like merging with your competitionAbout Nathalie Molina Niño: Nathalie Molina Niño is the Managing Director at Known Holdings, an investor, author, educator, and retired global tech entrepreneur. She co-founded the Builder Capitalist trade organization. She wrote Leapfrog: The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs. She serves as advisor and partner to a number of organizations.  Highlights:‌00:01  Intro04:12  Meet Nathalie Molina Niño05:06  How she got started09:29  Looking beyond VC investment12:33  Investor expectation imbalance16:56  Gender disparity in financing19:57  Applying for funding23:33  Biggest challenge25:28  The Great Reset & Covid28:40  What she wishes she knew30:49  What's next?Links:‌Nathalie Molina Niñohttp://leapfroghacks.comInstagram: @nathaliemolinaninoTwitter: @NathalieMolina To work with me and make your next power move, visit:https://shelaghcummins.com   ‌Stay ConnectedLike what you're hearing? Click here to subscribe in iTunes for more episodes to boost your Road to Seven today! I have more episodes with great tips and conversations with women that are revolutionizing the way we do business - don't miss it!You can also join the Road To Seven Facebook group to meet other like-minded entrepreneurs who want to band together and help each other rise up.I would be really grateful if you left a review on iTunes so that others can find and boost their business too! Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” I'd also love to hear what your favourite part of this episode is in the comments below. Thank you!  Follow me!The 9 Essential Profit Levers that help our students create more clients and increase their revenue - all while maintaining their sanity. Exclusive training for ambitious entrepreneurs who are sick of selling their souls for little profit and joy.Get immediate access to the training and the workbook at https://cummins.kartra.com/page/R27Blueprint

Farai Chideya talks with Dr. Anthea Butler, professor at the University of Pennsylvania, about the role white evangelical Christians play in maintaining racist systems in the U.S. Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani shares why she started the Marshall Plan For Moms, to support working mothers trapped by poor child care systems and the Covid-19 financial fallout. Documentary filmmaker Loira Limbal talks about her movie “Through the Night,” which profiles families that run and utilize a 24-hour daycare center. And Farai Chideya welcomes Michelle Singletary, personal finance columnist at the Washington Post and author of the new book, "What To Do With Your Money When Crisis Hits,” and Nathalie Molina Niño, managing director at Known Holdings, to Sippin’ the Political Tea, for a roundtable dedicated to securing your finances post-Covid.1:03 Dr. Anthea Butler on the political power of white evangelical Christians12:21 Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani on why moms need better child care infrastructure18:30 Documentarian Loira Limbal shares her poignant film about a 24-hour daycare center and the families that rely on it29:03 Sippin’ the Political Tea welcomes Washington Post columnist Michelle Singletary and impact investor Nathalie Molina Niño for a practical roundtable about securing your finances post-Covid

Nathalie Molina Niño, an entrepreneur, builder capitalist (at O³) and tech globalization veteran focused on high-growth businesses that benefit women and the planet. She is the author of LEAPFROG, The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs (Penguin Random House, Tarcher Perigee) and serves as a Venture Partner at Connectivity Capital Partners. Molina Niño launched her first tech startup at the age of twenty and is the co-founder of Entrepreneurs@Athena at the Athena Center for Leadership Studies of Barnard College at Columbia University. Finding issues identifying as either venture or private equity, a group of like-minded entrepreneurs with a passion for long-term vision and sustainability coined a new term: Builder Capitalist. Venture capital too often promoted the kind of short-term think that prioritized quick turnarounds for profit rather than a long-term holistic approach to building. “What worries me is when the Shark Tank effect starts to happen and you have organizations like the media making it seem like it's the end-all, be-all for all entrepreneurs.”  ————————————————————————— To learn more about this episode, including podcast transcripts and show notes, visit *salt.org/talks* ( http://salt.org/talks ) Moderated by Anthony Scaramucci.

This week we’re recharging and planning ahead. So we’ve curated some of the most interesting conversations Farai Chideya has had with our guests in the last few months. Senator Tammy Duckworth talks about how her service in the military inspires her political leadership, including her advocacy for veterans and people with disabilities. Investor Nathalie Molina Niño explains why it makes business sense to see entrepreneurship by women of color as an investment opportunity. Professor Steven Thrasher explains the ableism that seeps into talk of Covid-19’s disproportionate impact on communities of color, and the creation of what he calls a “viral underclass.” Journalist Leezel Tanglao talks about the platform Tayo Help which disseminates useful information to Filipinos, a population heavily impacted by Covid-19 due to the large number of Filpino healthcare workers on the front lines of the pandemic. MacArthur Fellow Tressie McMillan Cottom shares her personal story of pregnancy and loss to “reanimate” the worrisome statistics about Black maternal mortality. And futurists Sharon Chang and Kamal Sinclair discuss better ways our country could plan for retirement and work-life balance.EPISODE RUNDOWN3:40 Senator Tammy Duckworth says even though she was injured in combat, serving in the military was the “greatest privilege” of her life.5:37 Senator Duckworth explains why it’s important to tailor policy so veterans can transfer their skills to the civilian workforce.10:02 Senator Duckworth says she would like to see more people with disabilities in government positions in order to inform policy.15:06 Nathalie Molina Niño describes the moment she realized that access to money was the root issue getting in the way of success for women and people of color entrepreneurs.23:02 Dr. Steven Thrasher explains why he says ableism is a “plague” during the Covid-19 pandemic.28:16 Leezel Tanglao talks about her online platform Tayo Help and how it works to stop the spread of misinformation about Covid-19 within the Filipino community.37:44 Tressie McMillan Cottom talks about her hesitancy to write about the death of her newborn daughter, but says she did so to illuminate how a statistic could be someone’s lived experience.44:20 Sharon Chang and Kamal Sinclair of the Guild of Future Architects discuss what a true work-life balance could look like if society redefined the value of work.

Nathalie Molina Niño is the CEO of BRAVA Investments where she is committed to delivering returns to investors while making a catalytic impact on women in the world. She is also the author of the new book: LEAPFROG, The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs. A technologist and coder by training, Nathalie is a consummate entrepreneur, read more>>> The post LEAPFROG: The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs With Nathalie Molina Niño, BRAVA Investments [re-release] appeared first on Time4Coffee.

This week, Farai Chideya and her guests dissect political news across the country, from the Senate races in Georgia to the violence in our nation’s capital. And we welcome new contributor and legal analyst Tiffany Jeffers. Impact investor Nathalie Molina Niño takes on the exclusion of women of color in finance. Business reporter Ruth Umoh takes stock of corporations’ promises to invest in racial equity. Former journalist Carla Murphy tells Farai about her mission to understand why other journalists of color leave newsrooms. Plus, the leaders of the Guild of Future Architects on what work will look like decades from now.EPISODE RUNDOWN0:45 Farai Chideya asks supporters of President Trump why they came to DC on January 6th.2:41 Legal analyst Tiffany Jeffers breaks down the different legal and ethical questions behind Trump’s call to Georgia’s Secretary of State. 4:46 Political contributor Errin Haines and Tiffany Jeffers dissect what the insurrection means for democracy in America. 6:16 Jeffers explains how white supremacy is baked into the country’s legal systems.10:00 Haines describes what the group of reluctant Trump supporters will mean for the incoming Biden-Harris administration.13:09 Impact investor Nathalie Molina Niño talks about her background in tech, and her increasing interest in political financing.17:45 Niño explains the importance of investing in women of color, one the most entrepreneurial and innovative groups of businesspeople across the globe.19:37 In order to get more money in the hands of women business owners, we have to invest, loan, and buy from this same community, Niño says.22:27 The Covid update looks at the upward trend of confirmed cases and deaths due to the coronavirus, as well as the implication of the newest variant of the virus.26:11 Our Body Politic contributor and business reporter, Ruth Umoh, looks into corporations’ promises to invest in racial equity.28:07 The mechanism behind diversity initiatives differs from company to company, leaving it up to reporters to hold them accountable, Umoh says.30:17 Umoh suggests that companies should first define what they mean by diversifying their company, before trying to hit unknown targets.32:38 Carla Murphy, a former journalist, has stepped out of the profession and now focuses on why others are leaving the industry.34:56 The reckoning in journalism is being shaped by the social movements of the last few years, Murphy explains, like Occupy Wall Street and #MeToo.36:32 Murphy says it’s very difficult to succeed in the media industry without having independent financial support as an early career journalist.37:24 Organizing for a living wage is imperative in the journalist world, Murphy says. 39:55 The SPEAK platform records callers’ voicemails and gives a prompt for listeners to participate in Our Body Politic.41:46 Sharon Chang and Kamal Sinclair of The Guild of Future Architects return to examine how we can better understand the role work plays in our lives.45:50 Sinclair suggests society should invest in unlocking human potential by not only valuing people’s work output, but by valuing the creativity and passion within their work.49:30 Chang explains why she thinks the word retirement should be abolished altogether.

Happy hump day! This show is soooo good, it's sure to hold you off till the next episode on Friday. Enjoy!Kim believes that the tech world as a whole needs to reflect on issues with diversity in the workplace. The industry needs to identify common recruiting practices that contribute to the problem. If they own the problem, then they can begin to address solutions. There likely won't be a quick and easy fix, but as a group an innovative solution can be found. In regards to dropping the CS degree requirement for tech roles, Kim says that companies should evaluate whether this is a barrier or bridge to the organization. If it is a barrier, how do you get rid of it and build a bridge that helps you find the talented people you seek. She thinks the apprenticeship model can help the tech industry find diverse talent, but it will only work if they provide access to people from backgrounds who may not otherwise have an opportunity to work in this space. You need people of privilege to use their privilege in order to move people forward. If you are looking for a way to retain diverse talent Kim says you have to make sure that people feel psychologically safe to be their full selves within your organization. Employees want to be seen as a human person and want their skills utilized in an equitable way across the board.Kim Crowder is the founder and CEO of Kim Crowder Consulting. She helps organizations embed diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism into their workplace DNA. She has been named by Forbes as an anti-racist educator your company needs now. Kim’s been featured on Hubspot's The Growth Show, been featured in The New York Times and has worked with leaders from Fortune 100 companies. She is a powerhouse keynote speaker and a vivacious vocalist.Kim Crowder: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimcrowderKim Crowder Consulting: https://www.kimcrowderconsulting.comKim’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamkimcrowderKim’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/iamkimcrowderLeapfrog by Nathalie Molina Niño: http://leapfroghacks.comMore episodes of the SnackWalls Podcast: http://podcast.snackwalls.comSnackWalls is powered by San Diego Code School: https://sdcs.ioPlease share like and subscribe for more reach

Nathalie is the badass business bestie that we all wish we could have! Refreshingly frank and witty, author Nathalie Molina Niño is a serial tech entrepreneur, a Builder Capitalist investing at the intersection of gender and climate, and a proud daughter of Latinx immigrants. While teaching budding entrepreneurs at Barnard College of Columbia University and searching the globe for investment-worthy startups, she has met or advised thousands of entrepreneurs who’ve gone from zero to scalable business. In her book, Leapfrog: The New Revolution For Women Entrepreneurs, she shares her best secrets in the form of 50 “leapfrogs”—clever loopholes and shortcuts to outsmart, jump over, or straight up annihilate the seemingly intractable hurdles facing entrepreneurs who don’t have family money, cultural capital, or connections. Having spent 15 years advising organizations such as Disney, Microsoft, MTV, Mattel, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Nathalie has also been honored with Schneps’ inaugural Women of Wall Street Awards for her influence in banking and finance and was named among People Magazine’s 2019 most powerful Latinas. Tune in as we chit chat on Episode 5 of Season 2 of the Latina Money Podcast.

Check out this amazing interview with LatinX Author, Global Tech Entrepreneur and Investor Nathalie Molina Niño, as we discuss, her entrepreneurial journey that started at just 20 YEARS OLD; This lead to a career of authoring a book and leading investments that provide Women & People of color with the funds/resources necessary to succeed as entrepreneurs. Nathalie Molina Niño is an entrepreneur, builder capitalist (at O³) and tech globalization veteran focused on high-growth businesses that benefit women and the planet. She is the author of LEAPFROG, The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs (Penguin Random House, Tarcher Perigee) and serves as a Venture Partner at Connectivity Capital Partners. She is also the co-founder of Entrepreneurs@Athena at the Athena Center for Leadership Studies of Barnard College at Columbia University. Molina Niño advises the WOCstar Fund, FullCycle, and BlueIO. She serves on the advisory board of the National Institute for Reproductive Health, WE NYC (Women Entrepreneurs NYC) and Vote, Run, Lead, was honored with Schneps' inaugural Women of Wall Street Awards for her influence in banking and finance and was named among People Magazine's 2019 most powerful Latinas. *Be sure to check out her book: https://www.amazon.com/Leapfrog-New-Revolution-Women-Entrepreneurs-ebook/dp/B077WX47HZ * _____________________________________ Stay in touch with Nathalie Molina Niño: Instagram: @nathaliemolinanino LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathaliemolina Website: www.nathaliemolina.com _____________________________________ Stay in touch with Jerlisa "Juju" Fontaine: Instagram: @jujufontaine_ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerlisafontaine/ Contact: fontainejerlisa@gmail.com _____________________________________ Stay in Touch with HueCapitalPod: Instagram: @huecapitalpod LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hue-capital-podcast/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa69jtxXFFFRa2C1iiDr22Q/videos Site (Coming Soon): https://huecapitalpod.com/ Email: info@huecapitalpod.com _____________________________________

The eight episode (second limited series) features Nathalie Molina Niño who speaks passionately about her work to connect social justice, political action, and the restoration of people's voting rights in the State of Florida.    

Join us as we sit down with one of our trusted WOCStar advisors and esteemed mentors, Nathalie Molina Niño to discuss builder capitalism and investing in this ever-changing world. Molina Niño is an entrepreneur, builder capitalist (at O³) and tech globalization veteran focused on high-growth businesses that benefit women and the planet. She is the author of LEAPFROG, The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs (Penguin Random House, Tarcher Perigee) and serves as a Venture Partner at Connectivity Capital Partners. She shares with us tips she has learned along the way in becoming a successful author, teacher, and now builder capitalist. We get real with Nathalie on how to tackle gender bias to being a successful “operator” and raising “smartly.” Trust us when we say, you won't want this episode to end so sit back and enjoy!

01:41 Why Nathalie founded O³ and her focus on outcomes over optics.04:20 Nathalie's approach to investing to benefit women and the planet through "builder capital". What builder capital is and how it differs from the usual venture capital approach.07:35 Why stereotypically "female" qualities are necessary to address the major problems we face today. (Nathalie mentions John Gerzema's book, The Athena Doctrine.)11:43 What investors can do to tackle the climate crisis and why they need to shift their mindset to focus on the technologies we already have to mitigate climate change. Why investors should tackle social, equality and environmental issues in a holistic way.19:18 Why the solutions that center women are the most effective in tackling the climate crisis. Nathalie discusses the research of Katharine Wilkinson and her book Drawdown, and talks about a company in the Niger Delta using distributed ledger technology to pay women directly to tackle plastic pollution.25:28 Nathalie explains her thesis of investing in solutions that work at scale to lift up billions of women.29:42 Why it's important not only to lift up women entrepreneurs and executives, but to focus on solutions that lift up the vast majority of women.32:43 The actions we can take individually to address inequality.40:56 Nathalie's perspective on a feminist financial system: patience on returns and impatience in tackling our social and environmental problems.Get in touch and share your ideas on this episode on twitter or by email: feministfinancepodcast@gmail.comYou can find out more about Nathalie on her website or follow her on Twitter.

Hello my friends, today my guest is Nathalie Molina Nino. Never having met before, I was interested to interview Nathalie because she has some very different perspectives and experience in life from me. She’s Latina, originally from Ecuador in South America, who came to the United States. She was raised here, learned english perfectly, spent … Continue reading "Nathalie Molina Niño: Leapfrog"

She started her first business at 20 and now Nathalie Molina Niño, author of LEAPFROG, is committed to delivering returns to investors while making an impact on women in the world. In this chat, she keeps it so real and talks us through how we can and should use proven techniques to get ahead in life as businesswomen. Note* This episode was recorded in 2018, Nathalie is no longer the CEO of BRAVA Investments.

My guest today is the epitome of a culture changer, Nathalie Molina Niño. She is an investor, serial tech entrepreneur, founder of Brava Investments, daughter of immigrants, author of the book LeapFrog, and a fierce advocate for building businesses that benefit women - particularly women of color. When we met, she was down to earth, has a ton of moxie, and is so rich with life-changing perspectives, tactics, and as she likes to call them, short cuts! If you are a person who is thinking about how to make your own impact, THIS is the episode you will want to hang on every word and share with your crew. Please enjoy (Transcript below). Nathalie Molina Niño O3 Outcomes Over Optics Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter Leapfrog Hacks Fast Company: Why is #Finance So White? - written by Nathalie Molina Niño This podcast is built for people who care about making an impact. And it's working! I truly hope you’ll not only subscribe, but leave a 5-star review and continue sharing these episodes. I'm also looking for sponsors for future episodes. You can reach me by email, Instagram, or Facebook. Thanks for listening and I'll see you next week! Nathalie Molina Niño Interview Transcript: Allison Hare: 00:05 Hey, I'm Allison Hare and welcome to Little Left of Center, the podcast that interviews culture change or is that are reshaping our world and breaking new ground. My guest today is the epitome of a culture changer. Nathalie Molina Niño, she is an investor, a serial tech entrepreneur, founder of Brava investments, daughter of immigrants, author of the book leapfrog, and a fierce advocate for building businesses that benefit women and particularly women of color. And we met, she was down to Earth, has so much moxie and is so rich with life changing perspectives, tactics, and as she likes to call them shortcuts. So if you're a person who is thinking about how to make your own impact, this is the episode you'll want to hang on every word and share with your crew. Please enjoy. I am so excited. I'm going to hit like fan girl out on you for a second. Allison Hare: 01:02 But I'm here with, with Nathalie Molina, Niño, am I, am I pronouncing that right better than most. Better than 99% of most my gift. It's mine. One of my gifts is that it's the Jersey thing. Yes, yes, for sure. And so Nathalie is a fact, the founder and CEO of Brava investments. She is a serial entrepreneur and author of leap frog, which is such an amazing book. I'm a fierce advocate of women into theater and arts, like known as the story teller. I mean just the widest myriad a multi-passionate ,I mean you're just, you're just fierce. And this is a little bit of a full circle moment for me because a year ago I had I had an idea and I had an idea for an app. So it was like a crowdsourced app for for women going through up from maternal health. Allison Hare: 02:03 So women that were interested in fertility or pregnancy or postpartum, and it was a crowd source app where people can review and find reviews on their ob Gyn as it relates to birth and like c-section rates and all of this. So I was speaking to somebody that I think you might know and her name is Jen maser. Yeah. and she, she mentioned you and she mentioned brava investments. And I'm like, what? So Brava investments is this VC or this venture capital firm that invest primarily or invest in women and invest in I'm probably screwing this. I'm just gonna interview myself while you're here. You just relax and make sure I'm not screwing anything up. So Brava investments, invest in companies that benefit women and. Nathalie MN:: 02:56 Brava actually is no longer I stepped away from brava. I am the founder of Brava and I'm now working on a next iteration of really my journey as a, as an investor based on everything that I've learned. Allison Hare: 03:10 So this is happening in real time or I haven't done enough research.? Nathalie MN:: 03:14 No, that's okay. So, so brava, you know, I was the founder and I haven't even launched what the next thing is going to be. I'm planning on launching it before the end of the year. So yeah, I mean it, it's real time and the focus of brava came obviously for me and the thesis, while it will evolve and it'll be bigger and even in my opinion, more amazing. Uthe one kernel that won't change is the thread that continues throughout, which is I invest in companies that can prove to me in some measurable way that they're impacting women at scale. Right? So that we're not just talking about creating one woman billionaire, but we're talking about raising up a billion women. Allison Hare: 03:50 Yes. So as I was as I was reading your book and realize the kind of impact that the companies that you touch or that you're interested in and that it that you invest in is so wide and varied and you are born of a multicultural la. What is Latinex? What does that mean? Nathalie MN:: 04:09 I Love that. Latinex it's, it's funny I see it as a group of mostly young people of Latin American descent who are seeing some of the limitations of a language that insists by design, right? Like many romance languages of having the feminine and masculine to everything. And it's a little bit like the one drop rule where it's like you can have a room of 500 women and they're Latinas. But the moment there is one man in that room. Now you have to use the word Latino's because that's the convention in Spanish. Right? And so what's happening with Latin X is a group of people that are saying, we don't like that. Nathalie MN:: 04:49 We understand that. That's how the language has always been structured. And it's been like that for hundreds of years. We know that language evolves. And so we're going to evolve it in this direction. And from now on, we say the non-gendered Latin x, which means it's not Latina, it's not Latino, it's no gender. I, it was an interesting journey for me to even think about that by the way, because I ended up going through the entire book leapfrog and removing all of the places where we were using Latino as the mixed gendered default. Yeah. And I'm trying to figure it out. And then meanwhile, we're super in the weeds. And then you have people that are not even in the community that are going, what the hell is this x thing? Yes. But primarily, and the point is that that 2% of VC funding goes to females and just a fraction of that go to what females of color? Allison Hare: 05:37 Women of color. Yeah. 0.2%. And I can't imagine that 98% of that, you know, that 98%. Nathalie MN:: 05:46 Yeah. That 98.8% of the good ideas, right. Can't, aren't coming from the group that happens to be the most entrepreneurial because it turns out that while in the u s and this is a stat that everybody knows, I think you women are starting more companies than men. And that's been the case for a long time. But the crazy thing is that of those women led startups, eight out of 10 of them are started by a woman of color. So how is it possible that the single most entrepreneurial community in this country is getting 0.2% of the venture capital? It makes no sense. Allison Hare: 06:17 So what are we getting wrong here? Like are women getting something wrong? Is it systemic? And why you like how, what ignited your fire? Nathalie MN:: 06:30 Uh I love that question because I think that a lot of the things that you see out there tackling this problem come from the frame of how are women broken and how do we fix it? Right? And I think that we need to be turning our eye more towards the system that's excluding them in what is clearly a systemic way. When you think about the numbers 0.2% is ludicrous and there's no explanation for that. Right? and, and you know what, what stirred me was, first of all, there's a lot of us, there's a group at Wharton that developed a study called project sage led by an amazing woman named Suzanne Beagle and project sage came out I believe two, two and a half years ago. So like 2017 and they cataloged all of the funds and all of the investment firms that focused on women. And at the time it was over 50 of us. And then they redid the study a year later and now we're upwards of 80. So there are a lot of people in the space. But when I was just beginning brava and really just beginning to invest full time I was coming out of a period of time where I was really focused on educating women, giving women resources and mentorship and all sorts of tools. Um as a part of the Athena Center, which is a center for leadership studies, it sits inside of the women's college connected to Columbia Barnard. And so I had spent years working on women and training them and providing them tools. And then it became really clear to me after working at that point with thousands of women that we were not the problem. Yeah. And that at the root of almost all of the moments when I saw a woman's growth and a woman's company's growth impaired, it was typically a lack of capital. And so I thought, well, if I'm going to get to the root of this issue, I'm going to have to get my hands dirty in the world of finance. So at the time, this was in 2015 I looked around and I kind of took a Cadillac. This is pre project sage. This is pre Wharton. Cataloging any of this. And I did my own catalog of this space and what I found was things that I couldn't quite get behind. Right. I found a couple of things. I saw that the funds that focused on benefiting women were only investing in women led startups. And while I am, no one can argue a huge supporter of women entrepreneurs, if I'm choosing between a company that is, I don't know, building an app to tell you what color lips to wear a lipstick to wear or you know, founded by a woman or I'm choosing between that and say two dudes that have cured breast cancer. I'm not going to invest in the app telling you what color lipstick to wear when I am sitting on the potential for a cure for breast cancer. And do I wish that that company was founded by a woman? Absolutely. But you can fix that. You can fix an executive team that needs more diversity. You can fix boards that don't have women. Those are fixable problems. Something core, like a business model that is working on lipstick versus working on breast cancer. You can't fix that, right. And so I'm always going to go towards the thing that's going to impact the most women, even if that means investing in male founders and then trying to fix their diversity issues. Allison Hare: 09:36 Is that unique to you? Because I feel like in your book you mention Arlan Hamilton who she is like a personal hero of mine and he's like, I don't know if you listen to that Start-up podcast series with her, God, she's amazing. You know, like both of you and Kat Cole who is, you know, she's here in Atlanta. So she is not only a global hero but a certainly a local hero as well for what she's doing,ufor women and women in business. So, you know, my question is how, you know, do you look at the world as things that are broken that you can fix? Like what is it? And like how does your brain organize information or you know, is there some part of it that's like, I can make money off of this, you know, like how does your brain organize where to spend and invest your time? Nathalie MN:: 10:27 I love that because I don't separate them. And here's why. I'll answer your last question first. So I don't think, how do I solve this problem or you know, it's not a choice between how do I solve the problem or how do we, or does this make money? Because I have come to the conclusion, and I came to this conclusion a long time ago, that the way that people certainly in the investment world are super excited about the next new shiny object, whether it be cannabis, whether it be AI, whether it be cryptocurrencies, right? These sexy, novel things that everybody starts pouring money into. The only way that investing in women or in businesses that benefit women is going to become the sexy new shiny object is if we prove to the market that it makes you more money than other categories. Well, that was the other thing that you said that men, people invest in ideas and women, they invest in outcomes and so they have to prove it first. So do you feel like, like how, how do we level the playing field or do you play the game where we've always played this way that you have to work extra hard, you have to prove, you know, and go above and beyond to prove that you can be in the same, you know, on, on the same playing field. How do you break through? I don't, I use this term and I others people have as well, but hustle porn, this idea of like we've gotta be the first one in and the last one out and work as hard and you know, that's a recipe for burnout. And then now amplify that to an entire community and get the word out and tell, you know, entire generations of be that entrepreneurs or just really ambitious career people. That this is how you get ahead and what you get as a whole community of really tired people. Right. And I think that what we also know is that you know what historically the big boy deals happen on the golf course or you know, I mean a lot of things happen in these contexts that aren't actually about working longer and harder than anybody else. It's about being strategic. And so that's really what I focus on. I work on focusing on what are the strategic moves that allow us to shortcut our way to success, not because we're cheating because I think that this is a thing that sometimes happens. Certainly when we tested the term shortcut, which I wanted to be on the cover of the book,usomehow or I would have liked for it to even be the title of the book. Nathalie MN:: 12:46 What we found is that women associate the word shortcuts with the word cheating. And the reality is, is anybody who has gotten success in any way that you define success have done it because they've taken shortcuts and they have been, you know, obviously there's a range of shortcuts that are kind that are illegal and get you landed in jail in the short time that are just efficient. Like, if you have a contact at somebody in a corporation that can get you your kid, an internship that is going to change the trajectory of their whole career, why wouldn't you do that for your kid? Right? And what we have as a whole segment of the population. And I think women oftentimes fall in that bucket that are not armed with those shortcuts because they're not aware of how they're done. Or they're just not thinking in that way where they can come up with their own shortcuts that no one's ever come up with before. Right. Because there's almost this idea of, I've got to go the long way. To your point, I've gotta be perfect. I've gotta be the first one in the last one out. But that's not how people have been successful in the past. And so we just have to be armed with our own set of shortcuts, which is ultimately why my book is basically 50 of them. Allison Hare: 13:45 So, and I love a lot of the shortcuts and my favorite one is Getting to NO, and you know, you're a great storyteller. If you wouldn't mind telling me about people asking you about getting to YES or at least naming a speech of yours or naming. Nathalie MN:: 14:00 Yeah, yeah. I mean that, it's funny, that hack came because of a very specific experience. I was somehow muscled by one of my best friends into doing a talk at this amazing conference called Animus in Puerto Rico, but I had never heard of it before my ignorance. I just had not known what it was about. And so a friend of mine kind of muscled me in and she said, they're getting a two for one deal. I get to speak if you also speak and I already committed you. It's like, great, but I get a weekend in Puerto Rico out of it. So I went,uI didn't think too much of it. They gave me the title of the talk and the title of the talk was the same title as the classic negotiation book getting to Yes. And so I was supposed to come up with some inspirational talk about getting to yes. I honestly didn't put a lot of thought or energy into it. I showed up, I decided the night before to go check out, you know, the space, and I walk into a room with over a thousand chairs. Beautifully organized. Clearly this conference is not a little podunk, you know? No, no one's ever heard of it kind of conference. Yeah, and I think, holy crap. Okay, this is bigger than I imagined. And then I go look at the lineup and I find out that one of my idols, Sonia Sotomayer so it's in my yard, Justice Sonia Sotomayor is speaking before me. Oh my goodness. And I nearly peed my pants and I thought, great, I have this totally mediocre. Talk about a talk topic that I didn't even choose. You didn't even feel like it was yours. You didn't feel like it was resonant with you? Not at all. It was kind of like I was really phoning it in is what I was planning on doing and I thought, this is ridiculous. A, I never phone anything in B. This is just me being tired. This happened by the way, I think a month, maybe even just a couple of weeks before I launched brava. Right. And Brava was fortunate enough to have a launch that was somewhat propelled and helped by the Obama administration. I used to advise the council on women and girls and they allowed me to launch my company with the United State of women at the White House in October before the administration had concluded. And so here I am just a couple of weeks before that preparation for the launch of my new company and I'm in Puerto Rico, kind of phoning it in. If you can imagine when I looked at the size of the venue and then I saw who was speaking before me, I thought, okay, this is, this cannot stand around [inaudible] excuse me. You are being called honey. I know. Excuse me. So I throw my speech away. Obviously I start over from scratch and I realize in that moment that we have been told by the folks who have been functioning in the old school sort of rules that getting to yes is the, is the, is the goal right? The, the default, which is what I think getting to yes means is that the default is no and you have to get people to convert from that no to the yes. And that's how you win. And I'm thinking that's not really the paradigm that women work in. First of all, what do I ha, you know, glass half empty perspective on the world that everything is a no until you convert it to a yes. So I object to that view of the world to begin with. And second, when I think about the talent and the super power that women have, it is not a challenge to get to yes. Women as individuals who have been saying yes to things like getting paid 70 cents or in the case of Latinas, you know, 55 cents on the dollar. We've been saying no to the injustices that we're subjected to every day. And it's actually something that we're really good at both in getting to yes within our families, both in being accommodating like yes is the rule by which we live and how we survive and how we've survived in this society as it is. And if anything, what we need to do is figure out how to say no. And so I ended up writing a speech overnight about essentially how we have to exercise that muscle of saying no. And if there is anything that compliments our super power for making lemonade out of the lemons that sometimes we get, it's actually this compliment of being just as good at saying no to the injustices, no 55 cents on the dollar, no to doing most of the hard, hard work. Um,even in the home, right? No to all of the things that don't make sense and using that muscle because I don't think we use it enough. All of us, myself included. Allison Hare: 18:14 But I think, I think that touches on something cause I feel like it's such a profound concept that, you know, like somebody like me who is scheduled from the moment I wake up until the moment I go to bed and a lot of it is I have the ability to say no, I just don't want to miss anything. Right. And I W I want to be there. I want to be the reliable one. Yep. And that really resonated for me. And I even think about it as dating, you know, like I met my husband when I was 34 and I had, you know, my first kid at 38, my second and 40, you know and I remember I, there was like a stretch of five years where I was single, you know, and I was like the quintessential single girl and I would go on dates because I should, you know, like even though I wasn't that interested and the moment it was, it was very clear for me was like, the discernment of this is not going to add to my life. I don't feel like it, you know, or this guy, I'm just, it's, you have, it's like almost like an internal trust of what is going to be nourishing. Yeah. And what is not going to be nourishing. So that's kind of how I put yes. But that's kind of how I process that. Nathalie MN:: 19:23 Um that concept of getting to know and it really does feel good in the, one thing that I will say that even though this is, this sounds like the sort of thing that only an investor would need to do in becoming an investor, one of the things that I had to do is I had to come up with my thesis, which industries am I going to invest in? What stage of companies am I going to invest in? And I had to make that decision based on where my superpowers are. Right? And so for example, even though I have worked with a lot of early stage women owned businesses, if you look at my career in tech for 15 years, most of my time was spent working with big companies like Microsoft, big companies like Starbucks, like Disney, like Mattel, MTV, the BBC, and making them bigger or taking a product that was just being launched and taking over the world with that kind of thing. So my background is probably better suited for that later stage company. That is where I have the most experience. And so one by one I went through and I decided this is my thesis. I do later stage investing. I focused on healthcare. It previously was education and consumer. Now I'm doing healthcare, consumer and infrastructure with a climate lens because I'm a former environmental engineer that never worked in her field. And so basically I figured out what are the things where I'm strongest and where my interests are also strongest. And let me figure out that this is my thesis. This is my lane. Right? And what happened is that now based on that, when an entrepreneur comes to me in their seed stage, when an entrepreneur comes to me and they're in the entertainment industry, these are not my industries. It might be an amazing startup that absolutely deserves to be invested in, but not by me because my thesis is clear. Yes. And what's interesting to me is I think whether you are an investor or not, that exercise is a really powerful exercise. And deciding where are my superpowers, where is my time best spent? And what happens is once you have really clearly articulated that saying no becomes so much easier. Allison Hare: 21:17 And the way I process that is, is to stand in your power. And when I was listening to your book, because I don't have any attention span to actually turn pages and read, but I can listen and process information. But as I was listening to it, you had objection after objection after objection that was knocked down and actually not even just knocked down, but just empowered. You know, like I don't have money, I don't have time. I don't know technology, I don't know, you know, like you called it the valley of death. And that's what happened to my idea. You know. So I started that and I'm, I'm grateful to be in this place where I have such a passion for culture to changers, which is how you're just sitting in front of me today. In my, in my husband's weird office. But but I think that standing in your power and not making excuses, but like owning what you're powerful at is probably the greatest gift you can give women. And one of the things I thought about is there are probably in this, this you can probably relate to, you're very multi-passionate you're very multifaceted. So I imagine that the people listening here in many cases are entrepreneurs. They are people who are interested in making a contribution. That's not just, I need to make a lot of money, but like I need to make an impact. Right? So how do you coach women that are either, so multi-passionate to either pick a lane or people who feel like they have gifts and talents but don't know where to start? Nathalie MN:: 22:55 They don't have the idea, right? Like how do you coach women to kind of cultivate their own power? I mean the two things that, cause I feel like those are two problems, right? There's the pick the thing I'm going to focus on, right? I tend to shy away from using the term pick a lane, even though it's one of those terms that comes to my mind all the time as well. Only because I find that oftentimes when people tell me pick a lane, it's really just a way of having me be limited in what I'm doing. Yeah. Right. And so I, yeah, I'd never want to limit these creative spirits. Right. And then there's the, the question of like, well, I don't have an idea. You know, how do I come up with an idea? But I feel like I want to do something entrepreneurial for those people. What I often remind them is that no company is ever taken up and, and you know, created and built and grown with one person. And people forget that entrepreneurs come in many shapes and sizes and introverts and extroverts in every possible, you know, quality and all. A lot of the Times people forget that that number two partner, that co-founder, that third employee, fourth employee, these are essential to making any entrepreneur successful. They are essential to any startup. And I think that if you have that entrepreneurial drive, but you don't have the idea, be someone's number two, find yourself a co founder, hitch your wagon on an idea that you absolutely love that maybe wasn't yours. You're still an entrepreneur and you're still exercising that entrepreneurial muscle. And so that's, that's that one. And then for the person who is deciding sort of where do I focus because I do have, you know, 10,000 interests. What I often remind people is that it's not that you have to choose one, it's that you just have to decide what order you're going to do them in. People make the mistake of looking at Martha Stewart and her empire, right? And think two decades to build that empire. People forget that she built it one component at a time and they look now at the TV show on the magazine and the merchandising products and right. All of these things happened incrementally. So nobody's asking you multifaceted, amazing creative person to pick one. All that the world needs is for you to decide which one you're going to do first. And I'm wondering when you consider investing or do you invest in an idea and a founder, you know what's important to you when you consider, you know, what's going to make the most sense? Cause there are a shit ton of ideas out there. Allison Hare: 25:22 And you're probably a hit from every angle. Like how do you, is it intuition? Is it gut? You know, how do you operate? Nathalie MN:: 25:31 You know, I think you try to process it. You try to create a process that takes some of the subjective out. You definitely try to do that because we all have biases. We all do. There is an amazing Broadway show called Avenue Q. Um, and there's a song that I always, that always comes to mind when I think about this, about everyone's a little bit racist. And the truth is we all are, you cannot live in a society where the bad guys are always black. Oh, we organized information. No, that you just stereotype to move on. We're just flooded. Well, you're also fed the stereotypes when the right, you know, the bad guys always black and the cleaning ladies always Latina. Nathalie MN:: 26:06 I mean, whether you want to believe the stereotypes and you know, these racist tropes or not, they're fed to you every day. Right? And so I think that there is an element of creating a process by which certain elements of selection are blind by which there's more of a democratization to access to information. But to your point about getting the same ideas multiple times, I have gotten the same tampon delivery service pitch to me at least 20 times. Right? It's not to say that it's not a good idea, but what ends up separating the one example of the same business for example that someone like me might choose is ultimately the formula of a great idea combined with a founder or a set of founders who you trust to be able to be uniquely poised to deliver and execute on this idea better than anyone else. Allison Hare: 27:01 How do you know when to take a gamble you mean or not always? All of those, that same time, you know, like how do you know? Nathalie MN:: 27:09 Well, here's the thing. I think sometimes you can't know and so it's time I have taken months. Allison Hare: 27:15 Do you feel it in your gut? Like some type of formula? Nathalie MN:: 27:18 I mean sometimes the, the, the gut to continue a conversation is ultimately the thing, right? But the gut has to be combined with data and sometimes that data is time. I have taken eight months to get to know founders. I have a set of founders who I love and they just happen to be in the middle of an unfortunate piece of litigation at the moment. But it's been a really interesting exercise for me to take the last year, year and a half to get to know them as human beings, to connect them to press when they needed a press, to connect them to other people who might be helpful to them. And so to, in the process of kind of coexisting with them, take in the data of how they react to certain situations and how they respond and you know, how were they in a pinch? Seeing them sort of live in an action. It gives me this sort of data that maybe validates an initial gut feeling because you're right, at first it was a gut feeling that these founders had potential. And then what happens over the course of many months in my case is getting to know them as human beings in his founders and seeing if my gut was right. That is so cool. I'm, Allison Hare: 28:17 And I'm wondering what is when do you get really lit up? Like tell me about the last time that you just were bursting at the seams. So whether it was an idea, like what about what you do? Cause you, you have something very unique that you carry a voice for a lot of people that may not know they have a voice. You have a very heavy responsibility where you are going against not only, you know the VC money and then minorities on top of that. Like you're constantly going against the grain. So what does success look like to you? Nathalie MN:: 28:58 Wow, that's a heavy question. You know, success looks to me, in a way. I think it's ups, it's, it's rendering a lot of what I'm doing obsolete, right? Success looks to me like people realizing that investing in companies that benefit women and especially investing in women isn't charity. It's just smart business. Right. so and, and to me the data has already been proving that out for a long time. And the fact that research after research proves this out hasn't changed the behavior of the investment community. And so it's clearly what's left is culture change, right? Because the data proves it out. If the investors made their decisions based on data, we would be swimming in women entrepreneurs getting VC money in all sorts of other money loans, you know, all sorts of other institutional capital. But what has to be happening now is more the culture shifting. And that's why interviews like this are important to me. Right. The other thing that, to me success looks like is that more investors look like you and me, that we have more women writing the checks, that we have more people of color being responsible for who gets the money and who doesn't. Because I think that once that happens, then we're not asking for anything. Right. I'm a big believer in not even having the conversation about whether we have a seat at the table. I love entrepreneurship because it is not about asking for a seat at the table. It's about creating your own new table. Yeah. Right. And that's why getting the investor community to look like you and I is probably the most telling for me. Sign of success. Where have you seen the culture shift in the, in the, not just you elevating entrepreneurs but in people saying yes and money flowing to these new companies. Allison Hare: 30:50 What is that needle moving look like for you? I will tell you. And how does that manifest itself? Nathalie MN:: 30:55 I have, I have to anonymize the names because these are startups that people know and their rounds that are highly publicized. But there was a relatively visible round of financing that happened and closed earlier this year. And it was a woman led startup and she was in a place where she had gotten enough traction with her business and enough attention publicly that her deal became a sexy deal that a lot of investors wanted a part of. Right? Not every founder is in that position. So she was in that fortunate position because of a number of factors where she became one of those prize deals. Right. And we, she was in a situation where an investor who approached her, who happened to be somebody that I knew came to me and said, you know, we tried to get a piece of this deal and we were told that the deal was closed, that she had already closed the round. And I said, well, that must be true. And of course, the very experienced investor looked at me and raised his eyebrow and said, Nathalie, you and I both know that if you want somebody in and around, you will make room. So I said, you know what, let me see what I can do. And so I happen to know the founder, she happens to trust me and have we happened to have a relationship. And I said, Hey, I'm calling you because so-and-so investor was really interested in year-round. Is it really closed? And she comes and she tells me, listen, I could make room for an investor if I wanted to, but have you looked at their website and their website is all white men. It was the usual thing that we see a lot of the times in the space now, which you didn't know is that this firm understand that that's a problem, are bringing on new partners and we're in the process of really re-imagining themselves from the ground up with equity in mind. But that is in a work in progress. So you weren't seeing it on the website and part of the work that they're doing was something that I was in dialogue with them about. So I'm basically mentioned to the founder. I said, this is happening. You should know they're actually a really interesting group to work with. You might want to reconsider. And then she made room for them. I love and they ultimately invested in her company. But what I think is interesting about that is look at how the power has shifted. You have a woman founder with a coveted business saying no to a group of all white male investors simply because it's not aligned with her values. And that means I like the voice. This is like this. Imagine the signals, it's sending the market, right? You all white male vcs have a competitive disadvantage because of the lack of diversity in your ranks and you would have been out of this incredibly interesting deal. Allison Hare: 33:30 But you're finding that, but you're finding that the diversity is important. So that is like the needle moving, right? That having a cultural diversity. Nathalie MN:: 33:39 That's an example sample of the culture shift. Now I want to see 50 of those any given quarter. I want to see that sort of dynamic continuing to happen. That is one example. Unfortunately probably in a sea of examples that are the reverse. But when I see an example like that play out, it shows me that we really are starting to see the culture shifting a little by little. Allison Hare: 34:00 That's amazing. That's kind of feel what success looks like. You know, the culture shifting or saying we need, we need more diversity. And you know, like I always say a lot that what you see becomes normal and a lot of that comes from art, right? So, you know, if, if you only see white people around you, you know, and the only black people you see are what you see on the news. You know, like it's, it's very easy to start believing that one is good or one is bad. But when, when art and when culture and what you see is around you. Nathalie MN:: 34:34 Totally. And when it was reality, which is why I often don't use the word diversity because we live in a country where, you know, 17% of the community here are Latin x, but that's not reflected in the media. It's certainly not reflected in who gets invested in. It's not reflected in so many ways. And so when people come to me and say, I want to create diversity, it's like, well, actually what you want to create is reality. You want your workplace, you want your bank, you want your VC, you want your board to reflect reality at the moment it doesn't. Right. Allison Hare: 35:05 That's amazing that you continue pushing that. And one of the things I thought was amazing about you or your differentiator is storytelling and your background in theater and arts. And I think you had shared a story about going to a story telling workshop and some things stuck out at you that having a ritual, a sacred ritual of writing set you apart from everybody else. So I want to hear more about sacred rituals and I like how you, how you position routines versus rituals, right? And what that looks like for you. Nathalie MN:: 35:40 Yeah. there is a an amazing choreographer who of course right now is escaping me, but she wrote a book called the creative habit. Her name is toilet Twyla Tharp. Yes. and I take a lot of my thinking from her and from that book, she's also a Barnard alum. She's amazing. Because I am one of those people who has, by virtue of having been an entrepreneur my whole life, never had routine. And if you had asked me maybe before I came across Twyla's work, what do you think about routine? I would have immediately vomited a little bit in my mouth because the idea of routine has simply never felt right to me. It felt, it felt not thoughtful. It felt mindless. And it felt arbitrary. And then I read this book from Twyla Tharp that says creativity is entirely about something that might appear like routine, but that she instead frames as ritual. And what I love about it, because I am such a brass tacks, like how do we get things done kind of person. Is it the way she communicated it is do you think that I show up every morning at eight o'clock into a room with 50 professional ballet dancers and simply say that today, I don't feel creative rehearsal is canceled. She's like, right, that's not how creativity works. Creativity is a muscle and you need a ritual to basically get you in the right head space to be able to deliver on something like creativity. Nathalie MN:: 37:09 And so what she talks about is how important it is that she wakes up every morning and she makes her a cup of coffee a certain way and she goes to a very specific corner in Manhattan to hail a cab. Like she has her morning sort of opening ritual so that every day when she walks into that studio at eight o'clock in the morning, there is no, I wasn't feeling it today. The creative, you know, Muse didn't show up. No. She shows up every morning like a muscle and delivers on being the most prolific choreographer alive in the world today. And she does it on demand every day as expected. And she delivers every time as the muscle. Yeah, because it's a muscle. And so when she framed it that way, I thought, well, being an entrepreneur is all about creativity and the nervousness of am I going to be able to do this again? Right. Am I going to be able to develop a new product? Am I going to be able to, after I exit this company, start a new one? Or was that last time just to fluke? All of the things that are ultimately imposter syndrome, but fundamentally I think that the thing that we humans and I do think it's male, female, everybody are most afraid of, is the idea that we're not going to be able to be creative again or ever if you don't think of yourself as creative. Allison Hare: 38:21 Do you feel that way as your in between with your next venture? Nathalie MN:: 38:25 Oh yeah. You do? Oh yeah. Wow. The thing I am known most for is starting things and ironically the thing that most scares me is starting things and I don't think that it's a coincidence., I mean it really does. It's when I noticed, I don't, I don't want to believe it's true, but when the voice, the ugly negative voices of Imposter Syndrome are the loudest is in these moments of transition when I'm in between, when I'm launching the new thing, when the little voice in your head has the success of the last thing was a fluke, or maybe if the last thing wasn't successful, well then that failure is going to follow you into the next thing. Those voices get really, really loud in these times. And that's why I don't think that, you know, maybe it's possible. My mentor says it's possible, but I don't think you ever grow out of imposter syndrome. If you're a thoughtful, you know, moderately humble person, those voices will always be there. I think what I have tried to do is to drown those voices out with the other side of the coin, right? With the voice that says in the case of my mentor, these words that have kind of become my mantra, which is you are the source of your own supply. You know, whatever you did before you can do it again. And the well from which you draw is you right. So you are the source of your own supply. And that's kind of become a mantra for me. And so when I hear those voices, all I can do is join them out with these others and it's become almost muscle now so that it's, as soon as those negative voices pop up, these words surface and I hear them really loud and clear and it kind of helps me realize that, oh, this is where I am. Allison Hare: 40:00 And I wonder if the question I asked before about finding your own voice or finding how you can impact, cause I'm a huge fan of Seth Godin and Seth Godin talks about writing every day and as he's published his blog daily, even on Saturday, Sunday, like clockwork for over a decade. And he said, there is no such thing as writer's block because your brain doesn't stop thinking. You just get paralyzed with is it going to be good or not? But it doesn't really matter if you just write what you're thinking. So I saw something recently from Marie Forleo. You can tell him like I'm kind of a student of everything. And Marie Forleo puts put something where every day she will follow her breath for 10 breaths before, you know, when she wakes up and she'll move, she'll do some kind of movement for a few minutes and she'll write. So write for a sentence or two or five minutes before she looks at any screen. And so I've been doing that. And so I thought if I take the Seth Godin thing of just having kind of the creative faucet of just me just forcing myself to just write or reflect whatever it is, it doesn't matter if it's good or bad, but by nature it's going to be real and it's going to get better. And if it is just kind of tapping into your creativity, it's your ritual that seems like that Rachel for you, Nathalie MN:: 41:22 Both of them are tapping into where I think they're coming from is there's a book called the artist's way. And in the artist's way, there's something called the daily pages. And the artist's way is one of these books that if you're not an artist and you aren't in the creative field, you might never have heard of it. But if you are, it's like a cult favorite. I mean it is a classic that people swear by and one of the exercises that she does is she says, wake up every morning and just write. Even if you are so uninspired that you write the same word again and again, it doesn't matter. Just wake up and do your daily pages. And it sounds like both of them are inspired by that. And it's the reason that when I looked for an agent for my book, I found the agency that represented the woman who wrote the artist's way because I was not interested in Leapfrog being something that surfaced like many books do for a few months and then sort of went away and disappeared. I wanted it to be this sort of quiet favorite of people who really connect with it and decide, okay, this is a paradigm shift for me and I need my friend who was starting a company to look at this. I need my niece who is thinking that she might be an entrepreneur to read this. I need to have basically a new set of rules. And I want it to have longevity the way that the artist way has had longevity because I do think it's a, it's a shift and if it influences the way that the artist way has influenced Seth Godin or Marie Forleo, that's it. That's winning. Allison Hare: 42:48 Right. Do you feel like the book changed you? Nathalie MN:: 42:51 Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I tell, I haven't told you writing the book, writing the book, not somebody else's book. Your book. No. Yeah, no. Writing the book. Absolutely. Did I, I talk about how, you know, the book is split into four sections. A ready, set, go fund grow and ready is not a chapter or section that I wanted to include it in the book. And the reason is because the rest, the other four sections are really brass tacks, tactical. Like these are very specific hacks that you can use to get ahead. The first section was really about getting yourself ready. Right? It was the inside game of getting my mindset ready. Thinking about imposter syndrome, thinking about all of the things that we need in order to have our head really on straight to be best positioned for success as we defined success. Like this idea of no instead of yes. I didn't want to write that section even though it was very present in my mind. And. Allison Hare: 43:49 Are you afraid of vulnerability do you think? Or just being public with it? Nathalie MN:: 43:52 I was afraid that it would be considered a self help book. Hmm. And I wouldn't be taken seriously and it would be put into, you know, in terms of the category of business books into that sort of ghetto of we don't take this so seriously because it's sounds and reads and feels more like a self help book. And so in my interest, totally I think misconstrued interest of being, you know, taken seriously among the boys who, right. You know, business books. There was this, I think, feminine, not excluded for women only because men and women benefit from this really holistic of what it means to be an entrepreneur that I wanted to leave out. And it was my co-writer, Sarah, who really insisted that these are the building blocks upon which everything else thrives. Right. And so it changed me because it ultimately reminded me that I can't show up without that piece. Right. That the two really complement each other that you can't talk about success in this brass tacks kind of way without making sure that there's a really solid foundation that is emotional, that is, you know, psychological. Allison Hare: 45:04 Cool. That is a whole person though. Like I wonder, did you feel like, you know, you growing up cause you, you left school did start your company at 19 years old. Did you feel like that armor was imperative? You know, back then, did you feel like it. Nathalie MN:: 45:17 Being in tech for 15 years? Yes, absolutely. Yes. I learned how to play the game their way and even to up the ante. So if men who succeed in tech are perceived as cut throat, if men who succeed in tech are perceived as being, you know, having sharp elbows, in order for me to thrive in that context, I felt like I needed to even be more of that more cutthroat, sharper elbows take no prisoners. Allison Hare: 45:47 Right. Like that there is probably a rush in there too for you. You know, like it was probably very thrilling. You get validated, you get plenty of positive reinforcement that that's the right thing to do. Nathalie MN:: 45:58 Absolutely. Until, and I do tell the story in the book until there was a moment where I put ultimately the life of a human beings second after the success of a company and somebody whose life was actually put in danger. And ultimately I was the one responsible. Right. And it was at that moment that it hit me where I had sort of arrived and it hit me that that's not the person my parents raised, right? That I had somehow got caught up in it and lost complete sight of at the core who I was raised to be, who I really am. Who I wanted to be. And so what's funny is people are like, oh, she had this Aha moment and then she's just been, you know, the amazing founder, manager, investor that everyone wants to be ever since, because she had this epiphany. It wasn't that way. The reality is, is when you see that you're capable of something like that, all it does is expose the sort of shadow side and all you can do from there onward is work on sort of climbing your way out. Right? Yeah. But you always know that that shadow side is possible. You always know that in your worst moments you could revert to that. And the work constantly is about making sure that you don't. Allison Hare: 47:14 Right. Do you feel like the way world has evolved over the past 20 years where it's much more acceptable to be more vulnerable and more of a fully whole self? Nathalie MN:: 47:27 I don't think so. Allison Hare: 47:28 You don't! Nathalie MN:: 47:29 But I think that what excites me about how we can get there is seeing the level of entrepreneurship that seems to be rising among women. Right? Because I think that that helps male founders. It helps female founders when we have a different group of people calling the shots, defining the culture of a company. Right. With all due respect to people like Sheryl Sandberg because somebody has to do the work of taking a Google or a Facebook or a Proctor and gamble or these huge monolithic companies and shifting their culture and for people like sit, you know Sheryl Sandberg who are doing that work, God bless. Right. But I really would rather focus my energy on building the new Procter and gamble or the next Google and building it right from scratch. Where the culture shift that you are talking about gets built into the DNA of a company. Allison Hare: 48:21 And I'm wondering what your thoughts are on which is kind of dovetailing off of that is you know, companies like, or people, I should say, like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are banding together to help solve health care and there are 145 CEOs of companies that have petitioned to lobby for gun control. You know, do you feel like the power is more in the hands of a corporation to change? What typically has been, what government is supposed to govern or fix. And do you feel personally responsible to maybe push that forward of, you know, changing healthcare or gun control or border control or things that are that are important and we just seem to be at a stalemate from a government perspective? Nathalie MN:: 49:09 I do think that we have to take a stand as business leaders. I actually had an interesting situation where there was last month a full page ad in the New York Times with a hundred, 280 CEOs who signed a letter talking about how the anti abortion legislation that is popping up in many states around the country is bad for business. And I was on the list of CEOs, I think probably one of the only ones who spoke Spanish. And so I did the Spanish media circuit, right? And I did a piece with CNN Espanol and I got pretty strong heat from Latin x population who are watching a leader in the business world go on national television and talk about how the human rights of our employees is paramount. And any laws and any state that looks to threaten the human rights of our employees is really threatening the health of our businesses because the health of our employees is directly tied to the health of our businesses. And so what I found is that I got a lot of heat for that. But you know what? At the end of the day, it's both who I am. It's what I stand for and every company that I invest in is going to have to reflect those values. Allison Hare: 50:23 And that's part of how we do culture shift. If the leaders of these large corporations aren't standing up for what they believe in and for what's right for their workers in their population or their consumers, then I think that people will start to vote with their wallet. And you see that all the time. If I go to a store and I'm choosing between a north face jacket and a Patagonia jacket, I don't know what north face stands for. I don't have any particular objections against the company. But what I do know is that Yvon Chouinard and Let My People Surf and all of the things that Patagonia stand for and 1% for the earth, these are all things that are embedded into the brand of Patagonia. And so all things being equal, I choose the product made by the person whose value aligns, whose values align with mine. And I'm not the only consumer who who buys that way. Allison Hare: 51:09 I think that is a culture shift to that we want to contribute with our dollars. People are buying TOMS shoes and there's so many more you know, socially conscious companies that are trying to figure out how do I give back? Yup. And it's such a beautiful, brilliant business decision, I think as a company, but it forces CEOs and companies to really consider their political, whether it is political leanings or not, or what their views and beliefs are of, do they put themselves on the line and is it worth it? You know? And I think it's become more normalized now and more socially acceptable where I don't know that that was the case 10 years ago. Nathalie MN:: 51:49 And part of it is because so much of just how we do business has become, or maybe it's become clear to us that the way that businesses are managing their operations actually have a direct impact, not just on our, you know, government, but also just on our day to day life on their ability to pollute the rivers that we're enjoying on their ability to use water when we have a scarcity of it on there, you know, influence, potentially undue influence, influence on the political process. I mean, all of these things start to impact our daily lives. And I think that we start to expect that from the companies that we support. Right? Allison Hare: 52:27 Yeah. So what do you, what do you know you've got a lot on your plate, right? You have a lot of responsibility. What do you know that you wish people could know? Nathalie MN:: 52:40 I am I'm about to publish an article in fast company, maybe by the time this podcast. Allison Hare: 52:45 Breaking News, right on little left of center Nathalie MN:: 52:49 Um that talks about this very thing that I wish more people knew about. And that is that when people watch for example, Shark Tank or the Prophet, we have kind of mythologized the role of the investor, right? The investor seems to be this godlike figure that stands behind a desk and watches people pitch and decides who gets the money and who doesn't get the money. And that so much tied to also self-worth, right? If I get rejected from an investor is my company, no good? Am no good, right? So much, right? We give so much power to these investors and what we forget or what we maybe don't know, and I wish everyone knew, is that investors have investors. And what I've done in this fast company article, as I've kind of broken down how the sausage gets made, because I think a lot of people don't realize how investment funds come together. And the fact that the investor who you meet is just the manager of a fund that was assembled using a lot of other people's money. And those other peoples, those other people are called Lps, limited partners, right? And those lps are the ones that decide who gets to have $100 million fund and who doesn't. And so what I talk about in the article is here's how the sausage gets made. And ps, those Lps, there are people, you know, because a lot of the times there's lps are the endowment at the college that you went to, or the LP is the pension fund. If you're a police officer or a teacher, right? Or maybe it's a vanguard or fidelity where your 401k is being managed. All of these places are places where we have influence. And so for example, if I'm a Latin X police officer in Los Angeles, 60% of the police force in Los Angeles or people of Color, are you picking up the phone and calling the pension that manages your retirement and asking them how many of the fund managers that you're investing in that are essentially managing my retirement look like me and have last names like mine, right? There are so much power in the individual, whether it's calling your alma mater to find out how they're managing their endowment or the nonprofit that you volunteer at, or you know, the 401k manager that is managing your retirement. All of these places are places where you have power. And if people rise up and start to ask questions about, if women represent 51% of the population, why is my retirement half of it not being managed by women investors? Right? I think that if more people understood how that sausage gets made, we would have very different companies being invested in and very different priorities around where money goes. Allison Hare: 55:33 Nathalie, that's so good. So what do you do for fun? Like what recharges and refuels you? Nathalie MN:: 55:41 Uh you know, my, my friends are my family. Even just here, I'm in Atlanta. I could've just flown in and parachuted right out, you know, one day, two days to do a speech. But I'm here for a week because one of my best friends just had a baby four weeks old. I can't think of anything that recharges your batteries more than a newborn. And just the, the sound and the smells and all of the excitement around a newborn. So my friends spending quality time with my friends you know, I try to make sure that my theater roots don't go away. Um so I'm helping with a Broadway show. For example, about Jeannette Rankin, who was the first woman to ever join Congress and be elected to Congress and. Allison Hare: 56:26 You're a playwright is your specialty. Do you act at all? Nathalie MN:: 56:29 No, no, no. In fact, I tried to bribe someone at Columbia University to help basically waive the requirement of making me take an acting class. It was torture. It was obviously like the sausage making. I love the sausage maker. Yeah. Yeah. I want to be the one that helps define how the story gets told. Allison Hare: 56:45 Oh, that's awesome. So how can people contribute to your mission? Nathalie MN:: 56:50 Uh follow me, I am always working on, you know, the last week for example, has been Bahama humanitarian efforts. I obviously get very involved with politics and supports certain candidates. There are all sorts of projects, creative projects like this Broadway show that I'm hoping to shepherd that are always keeping me up and keeping me excited about life. And if people want to get involved in any of these things and especially with the launch of my new company, which will happen within the next few months the best way to know is just to follow me. Allison Hare: 57:22 Oh, that's awesome. And I, and how can people find you? Nathalie MN:: 57:26 Best way to find me is Nathalie molina.com and it's Nathalie with an h and the h is there entirely just to confuse you, Allison Hare: 57:34 I have a cousin named Nathalie with h with the age. Amazing. She's french. She's french. Nathalie MN:: 57:39 My mother would say that exactly. She thinks we call her, she goes, it's a French name. The proper spelling is with an h. Allison Hare: 57:46 Okay. Well thank you so much for being here, Nathalie. This was great. I can't wait to see what you do next and you are a culture changer. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Thank you, Nathalie, for sitting down to talk to me and sharing your ideas of how to move a community and elevate women of all colors. Please pick up Nathalie Malina Niño's book leapfrog, or download it on audible, and I'll link her info in the show notes. As for little left of center. In addition to streaming on your favorite podcast app, these episodes are also now broadcasting on Decatur FM and salesforce radio. I truly hope you'll not only subscribe, but leave a review and continue sharing these episodes. I'm also looking for sponsors for future episodes, so please feel free to follow me on the socials and hit me up. Thank you so much for listening and I will see you next week.

Nathalie Molina Niño is an impact investor targeting high-growth businesses that economically benefit women and the planet. A confessed but recovering serial entrepreneur, Molina Niño launched her first tech startup at the age of twenty, and got hooked. She's the cofounder of Entrepreneurs@Athena at the Athena Center for Leadership Studies of Barnard College at Columbia University, where the idea for LEAPFROG was first born. Before that, she spent over a decade sharing her no-BS, opinionated flavor of business advice and growth strategy with folks like Disney, Microsoft, MTV, Mattel, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Just prior to launching her last venture, BRAVA Investments, Molina Niño led the launch of Nely Galán's New York Times bestselling book and online education venture, Self-Made, and stepped in as CRO of PowerToFly, the fastest growing hiring platform for women in tech and beyond.

“I think one of the most amazing ways to develop your leadership is by joining ecosystems of women that you want to be like and that inspire you.” -Nina Vaca This episode is for entrepreneurs and any leader who wants to learn to think big! President & Co-Founder of Take The Lead Gloria Feldt is joined by serial entrepreneur, investor and tech globalization veteran, Nathalie Molina Niño, as well as Nina Vaca, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Pinnacle Group. They take you on a deep dive into what steps you can take to be successful while doing what you love. This episode is brought to you by Alex Soldier www.AlexSoldier.com. Alex Soldier: whimsical artisan jewelry handcrafted with love in NYC from responsibly sourced materials. The included interview first aired live on YouTube during Take The Lead’s Virtual Happy Hour in August 2018. Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pyk4jFr1Ifs Sign up here for the Take The Lead newsletter: https://www.taketheleadwomen.com/email-signup Learn more about Take The Lead’s Leadership Tools here: https://www.taketheleadwomen.com/leadership-tools Other Resources and Links “Are You Really an Entrepreneur?” https://www.taketheleadwomen.com/blog/blog/are-you-really-an-entrepreneur?rq=entrepreneur Take The Lead Virtual Happy Hour video of this conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pyk4jFr1Ifs Nina Vaca’s speech on Courageous Conversations at the Aspen Institute Latinos & Society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd9IJna4N2Q Forbes article on Nathalie Molina Nino: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carriehammer/2018/08/28/nathalie-molina-nino-forges-a-new-future-for-women-entrepreneurs/#1ae21b297eb0 Gloria Feldt’s Website – https://gloriafeldt.com/ Gloria Feldt’s Twitter – https://twitter.com/GloriaFeldt Gloria Feldt’s Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/gloriafeldt/ Take The Lead Website – https://www.taketheleadwomen.com/ Take the Lead Twitter – https://twitter.com/takeleadwomen Take the Lead Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/TakeTheLeadWomen/ Take the Lead LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/take-the-lead-women/ Take The Lead Instagram – http://www.instagram.com/takeleadwomen Nathalie’s Twitter – https://twitter.com/NathalieMolina Nathalie’s Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/NathalieMolinaNino/ Nathalie’s Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/nathaliemolinanino/ Nathalie’s Website – http://leapfroghacks.com/ Nathalie’s LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathaliemolina/ Nina’s Twitter – https://twitter.com/ninavaca Nina’s Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/nina.vacahumrichouse.3 Nina’s Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/ninavaca/ Nina’s Website – https://www.ninavaca.com/ Nina’s LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/ninavaca/ Apps Mentioned on the Podcast: https://www.acorns.com/ Books Mentioned on the Podcast: Nathalie’s Book: Leapfrog: The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs

Nathalie Molina Niño, Author Of LEAPFROG (CLIP) by 632829

Nathalie Molina Niño is an investor, author, serial entrepreneur and a tech globalization veteran focused on high-growth businesses that benefit women and the planet. She also is a Thrive LOUD alum and is always on the go.  Plucked from that original interview with Lou Diamond, this LEAPFROG hacker shares a little bit on her perspective and how she keeps herself on the Thriving track. Enjoy this Thrive LOUD Minisode and stay tuned for some exciting upcoming news on the horizon of the world of NMN.  *** Connect to Lou Diamond: www.loudiamond.net Subscribe to Thrive LOUD: www.thriveloud.com/podcast    

Calling all Girl Bosses! We're talking about business hacks for women of color to...."spring" them forward to the head of the class. Shana is joined by Gloria Ware and Anne Richie in a continued conversation from our Reading and Riesling book club. The topic? Unlocking the keys to success in Nathalie Molina Niño's book Leap Frog: The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs. This episode is sponsored by Be Ready CLE: Empowering entrepreneurs with resources, services and support visit them at www.BeReadyCLE.com Connect with Anne Ritchie on LinkedIn or follow Gloria Ware on Instagram and Twitter @florishnflower. Follow the author Nathalie Molina Niño on Twitter @NathalieMolina and follow @blackgirlincle on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter or check us out online at www.BlackGirlinCLE.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/blackgirlirl/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/blackgirlirl/support

Today I had the pleasure of speaking with Nathalie Molina Nino. Nathalie is an impact investor targeting high-growth businesses that economically benefit women and the planet. A confessed but recovering serial entrepreneur, Nathalie launched her first tech startup at the age of twenty and like most of us got hooked. She's the co-founder of Entrepreneurs@Athena at the Athena Center for Leadership Studies of Barnard College at Columbia University, where the idea for LEAPFROG was first born. Before that, she spent over a decade sharing her no-BS, opinionated flavor of business advice and growth strategy with folks like Disney, Microsoft, MTV, Mattel, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Everyone needs to hear this episode and if you know a vc then share this with them. Just prior to launching her last venture, BRAVA Investments, Molina Niño led the launch of Nely Galán’s New York Times bestselling book and online education venture, Self-Made, and stepped in as CRO of PowerToFly, the fastest growing hiring platform for women in tech and beyond. Leapfrog Book: http://bit.ly/NathalieLeapfrog

Nathalie Molina-Niño is all at once a technologist, coder, entrepreneur, and storyteller. As the CEO of BRAVA Investments, she combines her skills to manage a portfolio which bank-roles startups on the condition that they disproportionately benefit women. The daughter of Latin American immigrants, Nathalia admits to being a Columbian who doesn’t drink coffee, but nonetheless energetically answers Time4Coffee’s rapid fire Espresso Shots questions that Java Junkies interested in breaking into the technology or start-up fields need to know. Nathalie shares how she ended up on the technology track, including how she dropped out of engineering school to pioneer her own start-up when she was 20 years ago, and returned to school years later to study Theatre. Press play for all that and more, on this surprisingly decaffeinated Espresso Shots career conversation! The post 130: How to Break Into Tech Startups, Especially Women Entrepreneurs w/ Nathalie Molina Niño, BRAVA Investments [Espresso Shots] appeared first on Time4Coffee.

Episode 058: The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs with Nathalie Molina Niño About Nathalie: What I love about Nathalie is that she isn’t satisfied with the status quo, and frankly never has been. She launched her first tech startup at the age of 20, which kickstarted her path of being a game-changing force for women entrepreneurs. By her mid-thirties she had already built four companies, and then surprised everyone by walking away from tech to pursue a theater degree from Columbia. Her entrepreneurial pulse couldn’t be quieted and Nathalie realized that she had an opportunity to make a lasting impact for women change-makers. She’s also the founder of BRAVA Investments, which targets funds that directly benefit women, and last fall she published her first book, Leapfrog: The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs, which is a collection of fifty “hacks” for start-up founders who don’t have access to old-boys networks or Silicon Valley connections.   Places to Find Nathalie: http://leapfroghacks.com (Leapfroghacks.com) to learn more about Nathalie and her book, Leapfrog! On Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nathaliemolinanino/ (@nathaliemolinanino), https://www.instagram.com/BRAVAinvests/ (@bravainvestments)   Show Notes: [2:30] minute: Where did you grow up and what was the mindset around money and success that was instilled in you? Growing up in LA with immigrant parents. Money and politics were part of everyday conversations so was not taboo. Exposure to how money worked in a business and the stress it can bring. [4:45] minute: Your parents were entrepreneurs, so was that always your plan or how did that come about when you started your first business in college? Watching her parents and some of their struggles made her think there had to be a better way, so she pursued the sciences. Saw the bureaucratic side of sciences and wanted to get the freedom of entrepreneurship. [7:00] minute: Tell me the story of starting your first business while you were in school, how did that come about? A motorcycle accident left her in need of a car to get around campus. That became an opportunity to create websites for car dealerships and others. Her and her friends taught each other to code and it led to a sort of “accidental” business. [9:00] minute: After that I know you built three other businesses before you left the tech field, so can you tell us about those and what some of your biggest challenges you faced were? Always felt that subject matter expertise was learnable. Struggled more with the human dynamic; the management of people. Best in smaller groups of people where everyone is known. [12:30] minute: What was it like being a woman in the tech industry, what was that experience like being young in the tech world? Things have changed since she got in to tech in the mid to late 90’s. It wasn’t quite as defined as a “boy’s club” then as it has gotten. The differences women in tech see from their male counterparts is what fuels her. Today’s women are braver than she ever was. [15:45] minute: Do you see any sort of tide turning in the tech world of men being more cognizant of these problems? Some change seen in the youngest generations, but the deepest studies show maybe those differences are not as big as we’d like to think they are. [18:35] minute: You mentioned climate change playing a big role in this, what do you mean by that? Women are going to bear the brunt of the side effects of climate change. This drives her urgency for the equity of women. [20:00] minute: You walked away from tech to go to Columbia and study theater, what prompted that decision? The canned answer is she was burnt out, and wanted to take her best skill of storytelling and put it to use in a world very different from tech. Physical ailments created by the stress her work caused actual burnout and her doctor told her to think about making a real...

Nathalie Molina Niño is the CEO of BRAVA Investments and the author of LEAPFROG, The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs (Tarcher Perigee, a Penguin Random House imprint). She is committed to delivering returns to investors while making a catalytic impact on women in the world.  

She launched her first startup at 20, and made lots of mistakes. Today, she runs Brava Investments, which only funds companies that have the potential to put money in the pockets of millions of women. Raised by an immigrant family with deep entrepreneurial roots, where money was always dinner conversation, Nathalie satisfied her “need for freedom” by launching companies that took on the abysmal state of venture capital investments in women of color, whom she calls “the single most entrepreneurial community in this country.” Oh, and she wrote a book about all of it: Leapfrog: The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs. Her motto: “We cannot wait for people to give us what we’re entitled to. We have to build it ourselves.”Love the show? Show your love and become a Latina to Latina insider here!

"The Results Driver".   Nathalie Molina Niño is the CEO of BRAVA Investments and the author of LEAPFROG, which she wrote as a guide to help Women Entrepreneurs succeed. She’s a technologist, a coder, and a business builder. She also describes herself as a storyteller at her heart. She founded Brava Investments on the basis of delivering returns to investors while making a catalytic impact on women in the world. Impact is one of the 13 themes we’ve seen show up regularly in these conversations with the best creative leaders and Impact is this week’s theme on Fearless. You’ll find more of our thinking on Impact on the Fearless Creative Leadership website.

Nathalie Molina Niño is the CEO of BRAVA Investments where she is committed to delivering returns to investors while making a catalytic impact on women in the world. She is also the author of the new book: LEAPFROG, The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs. In LEAPFROG, Nathalie provides her readers and aspiring entrepreneurs with 50 read more>>> The post 60: LEAPFROG: The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs With Nathalie Molina Niño, BRAVA Investments [Main T4C Episode] appeared first on Time4Coffee.

Hey, Boss! Forget ‘follow your bliss'. Here's some better business advice, especially for women: FIND THINGS YOU WANT TO PUNCH. My guest today is Nathalie Molina Niño, CEO of Brava Investments, and she's a female entrepreneur on fire.   She recently wrote an incredible book that I devoured in a single day called “LeapFrog - The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs”, and I'll tell you right now, this woman does not use “revolution” in the boring, washed up way we've come to hear it in the marketing world.   She's talking about real-deal revolution. And it's about time. We talk about:   The new rules of the clubhouse in modern business, and how you can use them to launch your next big thing. How entrepreneurs tend to become obsessed with their competition, and how that takes your eye off the ball, and actually puts you at a disadvantage. Why the idea of “passive income” can feel like magical thinking, and what an alternative is that can help you launch your business forward with more power and purpose.   Conversations like these fuel me to do what I do in this world, and I think this interview will fuel you too, Boss.   Not only do Nathalie Molina Niño and I dig into some SUPER important, actionable steps for women entrepreneurs seeking to make a meaningful impact, but we also talk about what needs to change in the world to make space for marginalized people who NEED to be heard. If you're just starting out in business, and especially if you are a woman or POC, this interview is going to light you up, and set you on fire.   You're gonna love this interview, Boss! If you enjoy the episode, please be sure to take a screenshot and share it out on Instagram and tag me - @SunnyLenarduzzi and I'll be sure to share your comments and big takeaways on my Instagram Stories as well. Also, please make sure to give us a review on iTunes (or Google Play, Stitcher, Android, TuneIn, Spotify).   You can find the Show Notes for this episode HERE   ____________________________________________   RESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:   Nathalie Molina Niño's book “LeapFrog” “Self Made” by Nely Galan Maggie Lena Walker Billie Jean King Nina Vaca   Sign up to my FREE TRAINING on How to 100x Your Subscriber Base and Double Your Revenue Using YouTube.   Sunny Lenarduzzi's YouTube Channel _____________________________________________ Say hi to Sunny Lenarduzzi on social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SunnyLenarduzzi/ Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/sunnylenarduzzi Twitter: https://twitter.com/SunnyLenarduzzi YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/SunnyLenarduzzi Instagram: http://instagram.com/sunnylenarduzzi/   Sign up to my FREE TRAINING on How to 100x Your Subscriber Base and Double Your Revenue Using YouTube.   Join our community in “Be Your Own Boss Mastermind” Facebook Group here: http://www.byoboss.today   Listen to The Sunny Show Podcast here: iTunes Google Play Stitcher Android TuneIn Spotify  

Segment 1: Jason Feifer and Jennifer Miller are married, and are the authors of the new novel "Mr. Nice Guy". Jason is the editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine, and the host of two podcasts: Problem Solvers and Pessimists Archive. Jennifer is the author of three prior books (most recently the novel The Heart You Carry Home), as well as a journalist. Segment 2: Nathalie Molina Niño is the CEO and founder of BRAVA Investments, investing in high-growth, innovative businesses that deliver a measurable economic benefit to women. Molina Niño is also the cofounder Entrepreneurs@Athena at the Athena Center for Leadership Studies of Barnard College at Columbia University. She is the author of "LEAPFROG: The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs".Segment 3: Allison Maslan is a serial entrepreneur who built 10 companies to seven-figure success and beyond, including cultivating a 20-year practice as a holistic physician. Allison is also an experienced trapeze artist and the author of two #1 Best Selling books, including her newest book “Scale or Fail: How to Build Your Dream Team, Explode Your Growth, and Let Your Business Soar”.Sponsored by Nextiva, Square Payroll, and LinkedIn

About our Guest: Elise Schuster is the Co-Founder of okayso, an app that provides quick, personalized answers from experts concerning life’s most intimate questions. Her experience working in the field of sex education spans over 15 years, beginning as a sex educator at Babeland. During her time at the company, Elise taught hundreds of workshops and answered thousands of questions. She previously worked on youth development at The Door, the country’s largest development agency serving over 10,000 marginalized youth each year. With a Masters in Public Health from Columbia University, Elise has extensive training and consulting experience in LGBTQ issues, pleasure, sexual health, and adolescent development.   Episode Summary Elise Schuster’s company, Okayso, provides clients with confidential access to experts who cover topics from sexual health to self-image. Using a non-traditional path for a startup, Elise and her co-founder were able to create an innovative app that not only supports positive mental health, but also is funded by a federal grant. The distinct way in which she has achieved success is an inspiring account for any CEO looking for new methods for establishing and operating their business.   Insight from this episode: Secrets to enhancing your business by analyzing other industries. Strategies for building a productive relationship with your co-founder. How to find and embrace your company’s unique path to success. Elise explains how she used skills learned in graduate school when she started her company. Strategies for evaluating the goals of your business using Elise’s “Fantasy Island” technique. How to embrace self-compassion and use it in your life. Why CEOs who are just starting out should seek out the company of other new CEOs.   Quotes from the show: “It’s really always helpful to have kind of those touchstones. I think you can get so in it, that you, kind of pulling back and seeing that bigger picture, every little bit is incredibly helpful.” - Elise Schuster, Episode 139 “I think that, often when you read things about startups or you read about successful businesses, you don’t see the messiness behind them. You also often see only a couple of paths.” - Elise Schuster, Episode 139 “There’s not one way of helping people. You have got to figure out what is going to work right for you.” - Elise Schuster, Episode 139 “Everybody deserves to lead happy and healthy lives. And that includes sexuality. It’s just as much a part of our lives.” - Elise Schuster, Episode 139 “I think that we get so many messages in the world about what it means to be a woman and how you’re supposed to behave and act. So I think most of it, for me, is really just to realize you have everything that you need within yourself to do this.” - Elise Schuster, Episode 139 “Even in those moments that it feels like you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s okay to not know what you’re doing, you don’t have to have every single thing figured out, but you probably have it a lot more figured out than you realize. So keep pushing.”  - Elise Schuster, Episode 139 “Self forgiveness is the biggest thing. That’s the only way you can really move forward.” - Kevin Y. Brown, Episode 139 “It’s okay to take shortcuts. Because everyone takes shortcuts.” - Elise Schuster, Episode 139 “The things that I thought made us unappealing are the things that made us appealing, Sometimes the things that you think are your weaknesses are actually your strengths” - Elise Schuster, Episode 139 Resources Mentioned:   Leapfrog: The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs by Nathalie Molina Niño   React Native   Favorite Book:   When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chodron     Favorite Quote: Motto by Brene Brown that everyone is doing the best that they can with what they have.   3 keys to Create Your Best Life: Self-compassion Determination Love   Stay Connected:   Create Your Life Series: https://www.facebook.com/cylseries/ https://www.instagram.com/cylseries/   Kevin: www.kevinybrown.com www.instagram.com/kevinybrown www.twitter.com/kevinybrown www.facebook.com/kevbrown001   Elise Schuster: www.okayso.co/ www.eliseschuster.com/ www.instagram.com/heyokayso twitter.com/akadallas twitter.com/heyokayso www.facebook.com/akadallas www.facebook.com/heyokayso www.linkedin.com/in/eliseschuster www.linkedin.com/company/okayso elise@okayso.co Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on  itunes, google play, stitcher and www.createyourlifeseries.com/podcast

For women entrepreneurs (and anyone sick of the status quo), this smart, unapologetic collection delivers fifty proven hacks to leapfrog over obstacles and succeed in business. "A must-read for any woman who has a great idea and the nagging thought that doors are closed to her; Molina Niño helps to blow them open."--Publishers Weekly Think the most critical factor for becoming a great entrepreneur is grit, risk-taking, or technical skills? Think again. Despite what every other business book might say, historical data show the real secret ingredients to getting ahead in business are being rich, white, and male.  Until now. Leapfrog is the decades-overdue startup bible for the rest of us. It's filled with uncompromising guidance for winning at business, your way. Leapfrog is for entrepreneurs of all stripes who are fed up with status quo advice--the kind that assumes you have rich friends and family and a public relations team. Refreshingly frank and witty, author Nathalie Molina Niño is a serial tech entrepreneur, the founder and CEO of BRAVA Investments, and a proud daughter of Latinx immigrants. While teaching budding entrepreneurs at Barnard College at Columbia University and searching the globe for investment-worthy startups, she has met or advised thousands of entrepreneurs who've gone from zero to scalable business. Here she shares their best secrets in the form of fifty "leapfrogs"--clever loopholes and shortcuts to outsmart, jump over, or straight up annihilate the seemingly intractable hurdles facing entrepreneurs who don't have family money, cultural capital, or connections.

Nathalie Molina Niño is the CEO of BRAVA Investments and the author of “Leapfrog: The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs”. Today Nathalie talks about empowering women to do more, why poor access to capital leads to a lack of power, why counting the impact of the bottom is more important than counting the impact of the top, the importance of knowing what you stand for, why asset ownership is a vital part of political movements, and why we all need more proximity. For full show notes, scroll down. On today’s podcast:Fighting for women and their representation Poor access to capital leads to a lack of powerCounting the impact of the bottomThe importance of knowing where you standAsset ownership as an important part of political movementsWhat the world needs the most right nowLinks:Leapfrog: The New Revolution for Women EntrepreneursBRAVA InvestmentsFull show notes at: http://corporateunplugged.com/podcast/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Listen up women entrepreneurs, and everybody else tired of the status quo! Today’s show is for you, as we chat with Nathalie Molina Niño, author of the just released Leapfrog: The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs. Think the most critical factor for becoming a great entrepreneur is grit, risk-taking, or technical skills? Think again. Despite what every other business book might say, historical data show the real secret ingredients to getting ahead in business are being rich, white, and male. Which is why this book was written. Leapfrog is the decades-overdue startup bible for the rest of us. It's filled with uncompromising guidance for winning at business, your way. Leapfrog is for entrepreneurs of all stripes who are fed up with status quo advice, the kind that assumes you have rich friends and family and a public relations team. Niño is a serial tech entrepreneur, the founder and CEO of BRAVA Investments, and a proud daughter of Latinx immigrants. While teaching entrepreneurs at Barnard College at Columbia University and searching the globe for investment-worthy startups, she has met or advised thousands of entrepreneurs who've gone from zero to scalable business. Here she shares their best secrets in the form of fifty “leapfrogs,” clever loopholes and shortcuts to outsmart or jump over the seemingly intractable hurdles facing entrepreneurs who don't have family money, cultural capital, or connections. If you have a money question, just email me! “Better Off” is sponsored by Betterment. "Better Off" theme music is by Joel Goodman, www.joelgoodman.com. Connect with me at these places for all my content: http://www.jillonmoney.com/  https://twitter.com/jillonmoney  https://www.facebook.com/JillonMoney  https://www.instagram.com/jillonmoney/  https://www.youtube.com/c/JillSchlesinger  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillonmoney/  http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/jill-on-money  https://apple.co/2pmVi50

A technologist and coder by training, the consummate entrepreneur, and a storyteller at heart Nathalie Molina Niño is the CEO of BRAVA Investments and the author of LEAPFROG, The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs (Tarcher Perigee, a Penguin Random House imprint). She is committed to delivering returns to investors while making a catalytic impact on women in the world. Prior to launching BRAVA, Nathalie led the launch of SELF MADE, the company, mobile app, learning platform and NY Times Best Selling book by Telemundo’s former Entertainment president, Nely Galan. In 2015, Nathalie stepped in as interim Chief Revenue Officer of PowerToFly, a startup aimed at closing the gender gap in tech. And in 2012, while at Columbia University, Molina Niño co-founded Entrepreneurs@Athena at the Athena Center for Leadership studies of Barnard College, with the mission of leveling the playing field for women entrepreneurs. Nathalie launched her first tech startup at the age of 20. Nathalie takes Lou on a ‘mind walk’* as she shares her journey, her passions, her investment style and her love for her amazingly adorable dog Lila (pronounced LEE-LAH) as she Thrives LOUD everyday! *** Connect to Lou:  www.loudiamond.net Subscribe to Thrive LOUD:  www.thriveloud.com/podcast

In this episode we hear from Nathalie Molina Niño, author of Leapfrog, Chris Bailey, author Hyperfocus, and Steve Hilton, author of Positive Populism. Leapfrog by Nathalie Molina Niño: http://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/book/561511/leapfrog/ Hyperfocus by Chris Bailey: http://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/book/562033/hyperfocus/ Positive Populism by Steve Hilton: http://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/book/576515/positive-populism/

Nathalie is the CEO of BRAVA Investments. In addition to running BRAVA, Nathalie is also the author of a book entitled, LEAPFROG, The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs. In this episode of our Driven Minds Podcast, Nathalie chats with us about thinking globally, investing in the future, and co-existing with imposter syndrome. This episode is sponsored by @Velabougie candle company. What did you think? Send us a tweet! @DrivenSociety Share the episode with a friend that needs the inspiration and thank us later!​ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/drivensocietypodcast/support

Nathalie Molina Niño is a powerhouse in the VC community and she believes in ‘outcomes over optics'. Nathalie is the CEO and founder of BRAVA Investments, which targets high-growth, scalable businesses that make an economic impact on women. I spoke with Nathalie about the media and the stories surrounding black and Latino ventures, especially women led ventures. We talked about the struggles of women getting funded and she dropped a few gems on what we can do about it. Listen in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nathalie Molina Niño launched her first tech startup at the age of 20 and then later graduated with a degree in playwriting at Columbia University. In 2012, Nathalie co-founded a non-profit at the Athena Center for Leadership studies of Barnard College at Columbia University, where she advises young women entrepreneurs. Nathalie talks on how she got her head start in the tech industry and why she's working to fix the large gender and minority gap in the tech world.   Key Takeaways: [3:05] How did Nathalie get started in her career? [7:00] Why did Nathalie burn out? [9:30] We often forget we can define our boundaries. [11:30] We stop making good decisions after about 36-40 hours of work. [12:10] How did Nathalie get involved in her non-profit Entrepreneurs@Athena? [13:40] Nathalie is much more open now about talking about the core problems in tech. [16:30] There's a big group of people who are lazily uninformed about the gender and minority divide. [19:20] The tech culture is toxic and unfriendly to women. [22:10] Why aren't there more women in C-level positions? Nathalie explains why. [24:20] How can we make corporate and tech culture more friendly? [27:45] Nathalie believes we should focus on building healthy workplace culture on the entrepreneurial side of things, not in slow-moving corporate. [31:00] Charlie shares why he believes more women are leaving corporate to start their own businesses. [35:40] Nathalie talks about Power To Fly and why she got involved. [40:00] How did Power To Fly get 6+ million dollars in investor funds? [47:40] What's the most unanticipated challenge Nathalie is currently facing? [50:40] The one takeaway you need to know about Nathalie? You can be successful and still be kind.   Mentioned In This Episode: http://www.productiveflourishing.com/episode-18-factoring-tech-startup-world-thursday-bram/ https://www.powertofly.com/ http://nathaliemolina.biz